This is the Princess V55. When I first saw this boat at the Southampton Boat
Show in 2019 I thought to myself how can they make that any better? I mean it's
great to look at, it's got three very comfortable cabins, it's very nicely
built and it's not even crazy money at just under £1.1million
excluding VAT, but the question is - is it as good to drive as it is to look at? So
the boat has a pair of 1,000 horsepower Volvo Penta D13 engines on shaft drives,
however there is the option to have a joystick, so you can have joystick
control all it does is use the two propellers and the thrusters in
combination to help you move sideways or turn all the way around as you would
have with an IPS, but in fact the steering feels quite similar to an IPS
boat as well, it's incredibly light, almost lighter than some of the IPS
installations I'm used to and though that makes the boat nice and easy to
move about, it isn't quite tenacious in the turns as I'm used to from Princess
V-Class sportscruisers. That said it's still a very nice boat to drive and an
easy boat to drive as well. It's a wonderful driving position here at the
helm, I love the ergonomics, how close I can get to everything, the relationship
between the steering wheel and the throttles, the view is very good and it's
a really clean, classy as well, nice curvature to the mouldings here and the
fact that this sort of plastic up here peels back to reveal a nice
leather top, it looks really really good. Everything is digital in terms of the
dials and you can split that between engine information navigation radar etc.
and though it's all touchscreen you do have a keypad down here so that you can
use that out at sea if it's moving around too much for using the
touchscreen to be comfortable. I always like to see that on a dashboard as well.
A couple of downsides - one is this huge mullion here, makes it quite hard to see
what's coming from the starboard side and you do sort of find yourself ducking
your head around to see past there. Another thing is this area here, a lot of
this boat's rivals have got wireless keypads or wireless pads for charging a
mobile phone, this has got this little slot here that isn't really big enough
for a mobile phone. You've ot a small cup holder, there's not
really anywhere else to put loose items, which is a bit of a shame. There's been
quite a big groundswell out here in Plymouth today, loads of power from these
engines is really good in these conditions, you can get yourself out of
the troughs nice and easily and in a following sea there's plenty of power to help
you climb out the back of the next wave, it reacts really nicely to the throttle,
especially when you're on the boost, there's a plenty of push in the
mid-range from these engines and we topped out at 2,500rpm
at about 35 knots, which is really good going for a boat this size. It means you
can cruise 20, 25, up to 32 knots if you know in a real hurry and it
feels comfortable and those challenging conditions have meant that we can give
the hull a decent test, which isn't always the case in boat tests and the
boat has fared really well, you've got to be kind on the throttles, you can't just
hammer through the swell and the chop and expect the boat to deal with it, but
if you're kind on the throttles it looks after you really well, it's soft riding
the view is excellent, as I said we've got trim tabs, I've not had to use them once
because it's got a really nice natural running attitude and it really feels a
piece there's been no squeaking, no banging, no rattling from any of the
furniture, any of the doors downstairs, it feels really solid like it will look
after you, as it has done today if the weather kicks up. Back here on the
transom you have the option to have a hydraulic bathing platform, which of
course you could put a jet ski on or something like that if you wish, but you
have got a tender garage here big enough to take a 3.5m
tender, that means that stows nicely out the way leaving the bathing platform
good and clear. As you move up here you find access here to a crew cabin, a very
cramped crew cabin I hasten to add. This particular boat hasn't got it, it's just
set up as storage, but as a cost option you can't have it fitted out as a single
cabin, if you want to have that. And it's nice to see some of the detailing down
here, you've got really good stern mooring gear with nice chunky fairleads,
big cleats and you've got winches as well, and there's even a locker here with a
drain, so you can put wet ropes in there and they can drain off. What I like about
the cockpit is how sculptured it is, you've not just got big blocky sections
of seating, everything's nice and curved and soft, really lots of thought gone into it,
it's not just sort of plonked there. You've even got nice detailing up here overhead
where it's not just you know bare plaster, you've got some material up here
and little detail in here as well, it's all really nicely thought out. It's
a big space as well, look at the size of this table, absolutely huge
and really well protected as well, I like the way that you have these screens
coming down here, obviously they've got glass inside them so that you still have
a good view, but it means that wind is funnelled down the side and you're nice
and protected if you're using this dining area here, and you've got a decent
protection from the overhang as well. Another neat feature is that there's an
infill in this little section here where that gap is out to the side that you can
actually fill that in with a backrest and a little slot for a base so that you
can completely fill in this area, huge wrap of seating so you can get one
more person sat on that corner of the table. Over here you have the wet bar, of
course, the galley is very close so you don't have a sink out here, but you do
have a grill, obviously having it outside is great, means you don't get cooking smells
inside, and then down here you've got an icemaker, you've got a fridge and then in
this cupboard it's nice to see that you've got really easy access to the
fuel shutoff valves to both engines, both tanks, and also the generator tank. Now of
course the V-Class range doesn't have a flybridge so suddenly this foredeck area
becomes very important because alongside with the cockpit
it's your only other main outdoor living space, and this is a really nice area
because you have not only your classic sunpad arrangement as you might expect,
but you have this little bench area as well, you have to forgive us the cushions
aren't on there at the moment, but you can get the idea. You have some storage
underneath this area as well, both of these sides you have access to a deep
locker that runs the full width of this moulding, you also have access to it
via the bench section here, and then of course forwards you have your anchor
locker and some more storage for lines and fenders.
It's impressive that there's so much headroom in the engine room of a 60-foot
boat like this and when I can stand fully up as you can see and it's very
easy to move around the engine room despite the fact that you have an
intrusion from the tender garage. Natural light is pretty good when you have a
hatch open, but you also have good amount of artificial light down here as well
and there's some other nice touches as well, you've got a slot here for the boat
hook, you have fresh water wash down here, so that you can swill out the
bilges if there's a spill, and you have great access to the fuel filters and the
raw water filters, which are mounted here on the forward bulkhead. So what you get
once the door has gone down into the deck is this fantastic connection
between the outside and the inside, there's a completely flat floor here and
of course it means you have great connection here between the seating area
of the wet bar but then you also have access to the galley, you have this
fantastic internal dining area as well of course this table extends like this
and that's a really nice big internal seating area and of course you have the
solid roof overhead, but it has glass panels in it, so even when it's closed
there's plenty of natural light. Now there isn't as much glass, it's not as
big as on say the Sunseeker Predator 60 Evo, however it's still a really good
size and makes this boat incredibly versatile, because if it's a day like this
lots of rain about, you can just shut up the back doors keep the roof shut and
you can go boating in a t-shirt. So looking in a little bit
more detail you have your television here that's also in this, so the bulkhead
where the sliding door is, push button up it pops and you've got it here facing
the dinette. It's a galley up only option on the V55,
it's a really good size as well, there's lots of counter space, you've got this
nice flush hob here as well sinkers under here obviously and they focused on
storage as well, because you don't have any eye-level storage they've had to
make the under counter storage work quite hard.
You have your fridge here, I quite like these handles as well where you have the
popper is actually on the handle itself, that's quite nice. Fridge here, you have
some drawer storage in here and a really nice touch is this looks like a bit of
wasted space, but touch the button here they've built some storage that sinks
down right down into the unit and that's quite deep as well, it goes back a long
way. It's really quite handy to have some
more drawer storage here, you have a little dishwasher down here and then on the end
you have bespoke storage to hold glassware, mugs, things like that. So it's
quite a practical layout and of course it's right opposite the dinette as well,
so it's very easy to serve people who are sitting here, and downstairs that
means it's all accommodation so we can go down there and have a look now. Now
because the lower deck is only for accommodation all three cabins are
really good size, to starboard here you have a twin cabin,
it's got bunks in it, but they're a decent length and you have good storage
in there, which you don't always have in third cabins on boats of this size,
opposite the day heads, but this is also ensuite to the VIP cabin, which is
forward here in the bow, I'm gonna have a closer look at that now and this is a
really nice guest cabin, the berths split in half, so if you want to have two
singles you can, at the moment they're set up as a double, and note how the bed
heads are the curved into the end of the cabin, lengthens the berth and it makes
you feel like you got bit more space in here than you have, also the size of the
windows help with that, there's plenty of natural light in here despite the fact
you haven't actually got an overhead skylight you've just got an escape hatch. Storage
is good as well, you've got drawers underneath the beds here, you've got a
big hanging wardrobe to the starboard side, and this is quite a nice touch as
well, and you get a little vanity unit, obviously use the edge of the bed to
perch on and then you can use the mirror and their vanity in it, and as I said
through this door is how you have ensuite access to the day heads. This is
a really nice master cabin and what I like apart from the space, you've got
well over six foot of headroom, even when I step up around the side of the
bed here I can still stand without having to stoop my head, is how the
design flows from the outside of the boat to the main deck to here, so there's
lots of curves on deck, there's lots of curves here as well, you can see it in
the sofa, you see it in the TV surrounds, they haven't just put a big slab here
behind the bed, that's working quite hard as well, you've got the nice down
lighters, use of stainless steel and glass and different materials, it's really
nicely done. It's practical as well, you've got lots of storage over on this
side of the cabin, both in drawers and hanging lockers. There's space behind the
door for a washing machine and of course there's an ensuite, but cleverly they've
used a sliding door, so that an opening door doesn't gobble up too much space
inside the ensuite. To answer the question posed at the beginning of this
video, yes the V55 is as good to drive as it is to
look at, maybe not as good to drive as some previous V-Class models, but still
very competent out on the water and though connectivity at the helm lags
behind some rivals it's still a very accomplished all-round package. Yes,
there's a feeling aboard the V55 that in reality
it's all the boat you will ever need.